Consolacion port study done 30 years ago, says mayor

THE study for Mega Harbour’s proposed international port project called the “Cebu International and Bulk Terminal” project has been prepared 30 years ago.

Consolacion Mayor Teresa Alegado said this as she belied claims that there could have been politics involved in the joint venture agreement between Mega Harbour Port and the town to build the P16-billion port project.

Alegado claimed that the study for the port had been done by Japan International Cooperation Agency about 20 to 30 years ago, and it was also part of the Mega Cebu Road Map in 2013.

“What’s important is the port is finished. Once we have a new and bigger port, the commodities that will enter Cebu will be cheaper,” she said.

“The merit of the project is on the use of the project,” Alegado also said on why the town chose to go into the JV deal with Mega Harbour.

“As the leader of this town, I wasn’t sitting idle. I am not ignorant. I know what I am doing,” she told Cebu Daily News.

She also denied claims of Edmund Tan, Cebu Port Authority (CPA) general manager, that politics could have been involved in the town’s agreement with Mega Harbour for the port project in Barangay Tayud.

Mega Harbour was proposing to reclaim 85 hectares of land in Consolacion where 1,200-meter berthing facility will be constructed, increasing Cebu’s capacity to receive port calls from international vessels.

CPA, however, opposed the development since the CPA was also pursuing the same project on the same site, but on a smaller scale.

The CPA is eyeing a 12-hectare site in Barangay Tayud, Consolacion, for the new P9.3-billion international container port, the construction of which is seen to decongest the existing port at the North Reclamation Area in Cebu City.

Mayor Alegado also welcomed the investment pledges of state-owned Chinese firm CCCC Dredging Company for Mega Harbour’s “Cebu International Port and Bulk Terminal project” in Cebu.

This forms part of $15 billion in pledges secured by President Rodrigo Duterte from government and the private sector during his state visit to China last week.

“Who would decline that? That’s such good news,” said Alegado.

Alegado said she was told that CCCC has long been interested in Mega Harbour’s port projects, among which are those that will be built in Davao City and Manila as well.

CPA recently said that it would object to Mega Harbour’s project in Cebu and even proposed to have the Chinese pledges reappropriated for its own port project.

Alegado refused to comment when asked whether she thinks Duterte’s blessing would guarantee the implementation of the Mega Harbour port project in her town.

She said that she would just wait as further developments unfold.

“Whether the project pushes through or not, we will not lose anything as a town,” said Alegado.